If you see his interview after Game 13, you could see that he in fact was very disappointed at not having won. But, the fact is a +4 (TRP 2844!) in such a strong field is not bad at all! A +4 performance has won the tournament 7(!!!) times in last 8 years at Wijk ann Zee with the exception of year 2006 when he himself scored a +5.

Therefore, your <He just does not seem to be bothered.> is definitely uncalled for.

Udayan Chawdhary: Hello, I am from India, the land of Anand. I wish to say that when one is young like Carsen and Nakamura, one tends to be agressive and flamboyant without a care in the world. When a man approaches 40 and thereafter, one becomes conservative in his approach, as is happening with Anand. It's a natural phenomenon.

Udayan Chawdhary: Real World champs in any field have a healthy blend of being aggressive and being conservative. Anand is one of them. In India, we have litle sports icons as compared to other countries. Hence being an Indian, it is quite natural to be proud of Anand's accomplishments. Garry Kasparov who is universally accepted as the greatest of them all had a healthy blend of both. Even his agression had a conservatism blend and not recklesness as is the case with other youth icons. Your comments please.

iamsheaf: If any of you have noticed. Anand doesn't usually "over-perform" or "under-perform" by a huge margin. I don't remember Anand performing at 2900+ in a very long time. Perhaps in Mexico 2007 he had that kind of performance. On the other hand Anand very rarely performs at 2700 level either. I can think of only 3 occassions in last 14 years when he did quite bad. 2001 dortmund, 2006 Olympiad and Bilbao 2008. Otherwise his performance is usually consistent, between 2760 to 2840 range..

Of course these two players are, really, really great but in term of "winner of a super tournament", even if they are indeed high favourite, they are not the best in term of results as tournaments winner lately.>

I continue to be amazed at the "disappointment" with Anand's results.

Since 1997 he has won the World Championship in a tournament, in a match as well as defended his title in a match.

He is the undisputed World Champion - he shouldn't have to prove anything to anyone.

Winsome Knight: I feel that the way Anand trained himself for WC matches has made him more solid in his play. Of course, if he finds inaccuracies from his opponents he is pressing for a win or else he is finding it difficult to create winning positions. It is also true that opponents will be extra careful with Anand and will be happy to get a draw against him. I think only Magnus tries to play and presses for a win against Anand without compromising just for a draw.

There is nothing wrong with Anand but it is just his approach that has changed after becoming world champion. And still he had come very close to winning a couple of tournaments! May be he will win one or two tournaments this year.

montree: <iamsheaf> Exactly. I agree. Anand always maintain a class. Nowadays he is playing more like 'Capablanca' style (not losing to any lesser player, draws don't hurt). I think people should be OK with that. World Champions should not be losing often.

polarmis: I've translated some of the highlights of Russian journalist Yury Vasiliev's reports from the tournament. Highlights include Grischuk's summary of his tournament (plus Kramnik's and Nepo's) and e.g. Kramnik revealing what he missed against Carlsen (what we all assumed!).

<* Anand hasn't won a super-tournament since Linares 2008;
Of course these two players are, really, really great but in term of "winner of a super tournament", even if they are indeed high favourite, they are not the best in term of results as tournaments winner lately.>

I continue to be amazed at the "disappointment" with Anand's results.

Since 1997 he has won the World Championship in a tournament, in a match as well as defended his title in a match.

He is the undisputed World Champion - he shouldn't have to prove anything to anyone.>

Yeah! So true !

What's a pity, people didn't tell Kasparov it was useless to win tournaments during his reign ...

Oh wait ! It was just great to see a world champion eager to show at each very tournament, at each very game that he's the undisputed #1.

AuN1: < polarmis: I've translated some of the highlights of Russian journalist Yury Vasiliev's reports from the tournament. Highlights include Grischuk's summary of his tournament (plus Kramnik's and Nepo's) and e.g. Kramnik revealing what he missed against Carlsen (what we all assumed!).

there was an extremely interesting comment at the end by ilya nyzhnyk where he stated that he would prefer to play for another country, as opposed to his native ukraine. maybe he is thinking about a karjakin type transfer.

ajile: <theagenbiteofinwit: <Isn't Anand fed up with his lack-lustre tournament performance and missed wins against lower ranked players?>
I'm sure he goes home after every tournament, cries, then wipes his tears with his championship wreath.>

<" I was sort of jumping up and down around the room. I was so happy. Winning a tournament is always nice but winning an elite tournament like this is something completely different. I cannot remember the last time an American won a major tournament. ">

Sure is, same as Nakamura's victory in this event was achieved only because he pounded on the tailenders while not being able to win games against the top half.

Many posters appear breathtakingly ignorant of the fact that Anand was already aged forty-one at the time of this tournament, same as Kasparov when he called it a career, at a time when the latter had already begun to go into a decline phase--if only by his august standards, as he was no longer clearcut number one.

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